Duke University Libraries 
 
 Epitaph on the 
 Conf Pam #619 
 
EPITAPH 
 
 ON THE 
 
 femtife fcml! 
 
 CEASFJO 
 
 fo exist at tlie lioiir of 
 
 12 M. 
 
 oil Wednet-d ly^the third of DecembiM' 
 
 In the Year of our Lord Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-two ? 
 
 THE TERRIBLE QUINTUMVIRATE 
 
 Usurper of the Sovereignty of the State of 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA, 
 
 who 
 
 after an Existence of One Hundred ami Forty-five days, 
 
 during which they endeavored to trample upon all the 
 
 RIGHTS DEAR TO A FREE PEOPLE, 
 
 Havinj; declared ISIarlial Law over thi' 
 
 CITY OF CHARLESTON 
 
 on the eve of a petition fmm (he j)p.ople to their Keprepentaiives to 
 
 re-assemhie the 
 
 C O N V E N r I O N 
 
 They endeavored to suppress the 
 
 FREEDOM OF SPEECH & DROWN DISCUSSION ! 
 
 The private property of citizens was seized — all offices distribufeQ 
 
 among their kin and fiiends — solemn Acts of the General Assembly 
 
 were altered or repealed — the settled Law of the Land abrogated — • 
 
 the Ccnsli'.ution of the State overturned — the Public Fund squandered. 
 
 And Filially 
 'J'hey quarreled um»ng themselves! 
 When 
 The Constitutional Legislature of the State rising in itii Dignity and 
 Power, they, the proper custodians of her honor, by a vote of O© 
 Yeas and only O voting in mercy, blotted out its Existence, on the day. 
 and in the year above written ! 
 
 MAY 
 An incensed and justly outraged people grant peace to their unsightly 
 ashes, and may their FATE, illustrating the old saying *^ Vaulting 
 Hmbition oft overleaps kself," be a heeded 
 
 WARNING 
 
 "'To all who approach irreverently 
 
 THE SACRED ARK 
 
 of the 
 PEOPLE'S RIGHTS! 
 ^^Bic Semifer TyranU,*' 
 
pH8.5